An afternoon tea would be the start for the rights that women in this country now enjoy. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and four of her friends were enjoying an afternoon tea when the conversation turned to the situations they each encountered as women. No doubt, this was not the first time women had had conversations of this nature, but this particular afternoon turned into an afternoon of planning and organizing the first Women's Rights Convention.

In short order, this small group of women had set July 19th and 20th, 1848 as the date for their first convention to be held. They had also engaged Wesley Chapel in Seneca Falls as the location for the convention.

While preparing for the first convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton used the Declaration of Independence as the center for writing the "Declaration of Sentiments." In the Declaration of Sentiments, Stanton listed a total of eighteen women's grievances. However, Stanton warned her supporters that they would encounter misconception, misrepresentation and ridicule.

Stanton was certainly right on all three counts. Newspaper editors attacked the "Declaration of Sentiments" full force. However, editors had not anticipated how their negative articles would so incense women across the country that a series of similar conventions would be held nationwide.

The Women's Rights Movement had begun and other women would take up the fight for their rights. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was busy raising children and did not want to travel, so her good friends, Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone were the ones who would travel the country speaking and organizing womens groups. Winning the vote became the main issue since this would lead to achieving many other goals.

In 1919, as it became clear that women would win the right to vote, the League of Women's Voters was formed.

The Women's Bureau of Department of Labor was established in 1920 to lobby for legislation that would protect women workers from abuse and unsafe working conditions.

In 1923, Alice Paul, the leader of The Women's Party drafted an Equal Rights Amendment for the Constitution, which stated "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." It would be 1972, another fifty years, before the Equal Rights Amendment would be passed and sent to the states for ratification.

Over the years many other women led the fight for women's rights. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone would pass the torch on to their daughters.

In the past fifty years, women have come a long way. Women now have the right to vote and all other basic rights. Women now hold important jobs in the House and Senate. A women is making history in 2008 by running for president.

Women sometimes take these rights for granted. By the time many of us were born, these basic rights had been won. However, we must not take these rights for granted because they were fought for by our grandmothers and great-grandmothers who made great sacrifices so that we might enjoy our freedom.

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